Youkai Kombat
by Iridium
Summary: Inuyasha (and here I use the standard, ho-hum plot device...) travels back to Kagome's time during the night of no moon, and just some junk happens. Nothing much to get excited over.


Youkai Kombat-- Inuyasha (and here I use the standard, ho-hum plot device...) travels back to Kagome's time during the night of no moon, and just some junk happens. Nothing much to get excited over. Just let me know what you think of this fic.  
  
Youkai Kombat  
  
----------------------------  
  
by Iridium  
  
"Oi! Wench, don't you chicken out on me!" came drifting over on the breeze to Kaede's ears. 'They continue to fight. Something must be done.' She thought as she forced herself away from her comfortable fire which was burning in her humble hut.  
  
"Look, Inuyasha, if you'd actually let me talk for a second!" Kagome yelled, frustrated yet again.  
  
"Look, this is all I know, if we don't spend every moment looking for Nar-..." Inuyasha was cut short by a desperate 'osuwari' from Kagome.   
  
"Now listen!" Kagome huffed as she crossed her arms preparing to explain. "I don't think it's such a good idea to go hunting after Naraku right now because tonight is the night of the new moon in case you haven't forgotten, and as a human you won't be able to fight!"  
  
Inuyasha was caught off-guard, he hadn't forgotten-how could he-but he was so desperate for revenge, he no longer cared. He quickly made his reply, "Just because I might be human for one night doesn't mean nothin'. Sango and Miroku are human and they get along just fine!"  
  
"Nay, Inuyasha. Ye should listen to Kagome." Kaede interjected as she marched up the hill to the feuding couple.  
  
"Whaddya' gotta say about it, old hag?"  
  
"Ye should be more respectful, Inuyasha, especially to those ye entrust your secrets with."  
  
"Hey! Don't threaten me!"  
  
"Inuyasha, ye will be vulnerable tonight, however much ye may want to deny it. Miroku and Sango are powerful humans indeed, but they are no match for you and your Tetsusaiga, which is unusable to you as a human. You would be safest in Kagome's time tonight, where you will not have to worry about Naraku's wrath." Inuyasha was silent for a change. He didn't want to be apart from Kagome, and he knew she'd end up going back with or without him, now at least he had an excuse to be with her and eat more ramen.  
  
Inuyasha turned to Kagome, attempting to salvage his reputation. "Ok then, but only if we go shard hunting as soon as we get back. Got me!?"  
  
Kagome nodded happily, glad to finally have Inuyasha agree to something she wanted for a change.  
  
+========================+  
  
Slowly exiting the well-shrine, Kagome saw the familiar sunset over Tokyo and the Higurashi shrine, which was particularly magnificent this evening. She turned to Inuyasha, who stood silent, staring ahead towards the golden flecked horizon, which was struck with purples and reds, all of which shimmered and flickered in his silvery-white hair, as it was gently tossed by the evening breeze. Kagome marveled at just how dignified and handsome he was, but was also struck by the sadness and indecision that always seemed to linger in his eyes, which were still transfixed on the horizon.  
  
Kagome then gasped as she saw the dark color of Inuyasha's hair come in as the light of the steadily sinking sun left his face, which also began to change: fangs receding, eyes darkening, and ears transforming. They lingered there in the comforting twilight, listening to the rhythms of the shrine and the city around them, with the two of them feeling nothing but their own heartbeat. Inuyasha broke the spell.  
  
"Oi, Kagome..." he said, in a plain voice, still staring ahead.  
  
"..." she hesitated. "... lets go inside."  
  
+========================+  
  
"Mama, I'm home!" Kagome yelled to let everyone know where she was. "I brought Inuyasha..."  
  
Immediately, she heard the gentle footsteps of her mother, and the pattering of Souta's excited little feet. "Inu-no-niichan!" he yelled as he grabbed onto Inuyasha's leg. Inuyasha obliged the boy by ruffling his hair with his hand.  
  
"It's good to see you again Inuyasha," said mama Higurashi, with her characteristic smile and calm demeanor. "You... look different. Where are your ears and why has your hair darkened?"  
  
"I explained it to you mama, once a month he becomes a human for one night, which is tonight! Being weaker than normal," Inuyasha shot a look at Kagome when she said this ", he decided to come stay with us for the night. Is it ok if he stays?" Kagome asked, worried that her mother might not allow it since she hadn't discussed it with her beforehand. She had never had a boy over before but... Kagome shook the thought from her head, Inuyasha was different!  
  
"It's ok, Kagome, Inuyasha can stay with us whenever he likes."  
  
Inuyasha, feeling a bit left out of the whole discussion-- though surprised by Kagome's mother's extreme level of trust--, made his interjection. "Uh, thank you, Higurashi-san."  
  
"I've got to get unpacked and changed into my regular clothes, Inuyasha. Do you think you can find something to do until I'm done?" Kagome asked, looking at her mother, thinking 'keep him out of trouble!'  
  
"We'll be fine, Kagome, now go get unpacked and in the bath." Mama Higurashi then led Inuyasha--and Souta, who was still clinging to Inuyasha's leg in a rather comical way, though the expression on Inuyasha's face was far funnier--into the living room, where she directed Inuyasha to sit on the couch. "Would you like something, some tea? Have you eaten dinner yet?"  
  
Inuyasha fidgeted a little in his seat. "Well, uh, do 'ya, um... got any of that Ramen stuff, because Kagome brings it to me sometimes and, uh..." Inuyasha trailed off, unsure if he was being rude. He had always tried to be polite to Higurashi-san.   
  
Mama smiled. "Yes Inuyasha, Kagome always makes sure we have plenty at the house so you she can bring you some whenever she wants to." Inuyasha was obviously a little surprised at this, which made her smile and laugh a little. "I'll bring you some ramen and some freshly-brewed tea, would that be ok?"   
  
Souta finally spoke up from his spot next to Inuyasha on the couch: "I want some ramen too, mama! I wanna' eat with Inu-no-niichan!"  
  
"You already ate but... I suppose we can make an exception!" Souta smiled happily. "I'll go and get the ramen and tea. You boys behave now!" Mama Higurashi left for the kitchen to prepare the food and get Kagome's bath ready for her.  
  
Souta immediately whipped around to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, I'm so glad you're back! Where've you been?"  
  
Inuyasha never was quite sure how to react to the little boy, "Well, uh, fighting youkai... I guess... nothing special."  
  
"Wow, that is so cool! I bet you beat 'em up real good. Can I see your sword?!"  
  
Inuyasha was caught off guard, as he was wary of letting anyone see his sword unless he was going to slice them in two with it... but this was Kagome's little brother, he could make an exception. "Well, Tetsusaiga isn't a toy..." Souta frowned, but only for an instant.  
  
"I promise to be careful with it, and I won't run off with it!" Souta pleaded.  
  
Inuyasha smirked, "Ok then, Souta..." Inuyasha slowly drew his demon blade. "This, is Tetsusaiga, forged from my father's fang, the great lord of the western lands." Inuyasha drew the sword fully from the sheath and held it up a little as he proclaimed it's proud heritage. Souta was visibly impressed, but he was perplexed by the cruddy, rusted look of the blade.  
  
"Why's it all old and dull looking? I thought you killed youkai with it?" Souta questioned, no less impressed.  
  
"Well, it doesn't look like this when I fight with it. When I'm facing a youkai it turns into a giant fang-like blade."  
  
"Can I see it!"  
  
"No, I couldn't transform the Tetsusaiga even if I wanted to tonight. Besides, I don't think your mom would be too happy with me if I did..."  
  
Almost as if on cue, Higurashi-san walked into the living room carrying a tray that held two steaming bowls of ramen and some fresh tea. Inuyasha quickly sheathed his sword, hoping she didn't notice. She did, but chose not to say anything for the moment.  
  
"Here you go, some fresh ramen. And Inuyasha, you may notice that this ramen is a lot better than the instant kind you've had before." Inuyasha gave a quick smile and a quick "Arigatougozaimas!" before nearly inhaling a good portion of his ramen.  
  
"Wow, this stuff is great!" Inuyasha let out before he ate the rest of his ramen.  
  
"I'm glad you like it." Said Higurashi-san, as Souta tried to replicate the feat of his hanyou friend. "Now Souta, if you eat it too fast you'll get a stomach ache."  
  
Souta nodded, but only because he realized he couldn't eat it that fast anyways. Inuyasha seemed to retain at least a few of his demon attributes on the night of no moon.  
  
Inuyasha slurped up the last few noodles, and then drank the broth, wiping his mouth and making a contented "ahh" sound, that he reserved especially for after he had eaten some good ramen-which to him was any and all ramen.  
  
"Mama, can you find me a clean towel?" came from beyond the kitchen. Kagome had slipped into the bath without Inuyasha's noticing. "Yes, just a minute!" answered mama Higurashi, as she left to search the linen closet.  
  
Still eating his ramen, and at a more normal pace, Souta asked: "D'you wanna watch some TV?" Inuyasha stopped sipping his tea for a moment.  
  
"Eh?" Inuyasha wondered what 'teevee' was. He thought Kagome had mentioned it before, but he wasn't sure. He had to ask. "What's TeeVee?"  
  
Souta giggled a little. "Well, it's that box over there in the corner" he said, pointing to the dark colored thing with the dull but shiny glass front. "You watch shows on it. Here, 'lemme show you."  
  
Souta searched for, and found, the remote-which was stuffed under a couch cushion-with which he turned the TV on, making Inuyasha flinch a little and wonder if the boy had some sort of power, like his sister. Souta noticed Inuyasha's surprised expression. "It's OK Inu-no-niichan! The TV is ok, it's not going to attack you or anything, it's not real." Souta tried to comfort the hanyou, especially after hearing his sister griping about her alarm clock.  
  
Inuyasha focused his attention on the screen, where he was surprised to see some sort of drawings, but drawings that moved! They looked like a couple of people, one dressed in a purple kimono and white hakama, with reddish hair-which he found to be rather odd-and a sword. He was fighting another man who was taller, and who carried a very large sword-like weapon. "What's this Souta?"  
  
"It's an anime. It's like drawings and stuff, this is one of my favorite shows." Souta said as he slurped more ramen and watched the fighting men.  
  
Inuyasha watched the strangely realistic figures exchange words and continue to fight. He watched as the red-haired swordsman attacked his opponent with lightning speed, but his opponent never seemed to bleed. "Souta, is that man a demon? He moves so fast, but... he doesn't seem to be trying to kill his opponent?"  
  
Souta turned to his demon friend. "No Inu-no-niichan, he swore never to kill anyone. Besides, this is a rerun. This guy becomes his friend after this." Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at this, not exactly understanding the whole nonviolence thing, it just wasn't practical to him. Inuyasha stared at the TV for a few minutes, finding himself hypnotized by it. He was really getting into the show.  
  
"Souta, are you sure this thing isn't magical or dangerous?" Inuyasha asked as he shook off the weird feeling the TV left him with.  
  
"I'm sure. The TV does make you kinda' zone out though" Inuyasha didn't know exactly what Souta said, but he thought he knew what he meant. "I'll turn it off if it bothers you." Inuyasha nodded a little and Souta hit the power button, which once again mystified Inuyasha a little.  
  
"Hey, you wanna play a videogame?" Souta exclaimed, turning again to the hanyou, who was once again confused. Which reminded him of what he didn't like about coming to Kagome's time.  
  
"Uh, what's a video game...?" Inuyasha was visibly sick of having to ask so many obviously stupid questions.  
  
Souta was ever-patient with the clueless man. "Well, it's a game where you can do different things like pretend to control a spaceship, or play a fighter or control a fighter and fight against another player. It's all pretend, and it's lots of fun!" Souta had been hoping to rope Inuyasha into playing some video games with him when he saw him next, so he had taken a little time to prepare his pitch beforehand.   
  
Inuyasha felt a little doubtful, and he looked it, but he decided that he might as well go ahead since he had nothing else to do and it did sound interesting.  
  
"Whaddya' wanna play?" Souta asked the near-clueless Inuyasha.   
  
"Uh, how about that fighting thing, I guess..."  
  
"OK! I thought you might like that!" Inuyasha watched as Souta turned on the TV and proceeded to load the machine below it with a shiny disc labeled Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The screen flickered and Inuyasha marveled at the beautiful icons and graphical eye-candy. Souta picked up a controller and selected a player vs. player match. He handed a controller to Inuyasha who examined it suspiciously. "Oh, that's the controller, it has buttons on it you push to move your character around the screen and make attacks." Souta proceeded to demonstrate how to move the character and do basic attacks and change fighting styles. Inuyasha took it all in and felt at least a little more prepared.  
  
"Ok, Inuyasha, lets have a match!" Inuyasha nodded and they both picked characters: Souta picked Scorpion, who he said was his favorite, and Inuyasha picked the similarly dressed [*A/N: OK, I'm not a big Mortal Kombat fan, but I still can't believe I forgot the name of the ice/cold using character in blue... tell me if you know it. I'll just substitute Ermac until I get it fixed] Ermac. The match began and Inuyasha took some time to get used to pushing the buttons and watching the avatar react onscreen, which he got acclimated to fairly quickly.   
  
"Ready?" Inuyasha nodded in agreement. Souta immediately drove forward with a strong attack which caught Inuyasha off-guard, and pissed him off a little.   
  
"Damnit!" Inuyasha then countered the best he could and made some headway. Souta returned and crushed him bitterly. The second round went similarly and Inuyasha was frustrated but he didn't give up. "I'm gonna beat you, I'm just not used to this thing!"  
  
Souta and Inuyasha continued on for a several bouts, the first few of which Inuyasha was crushed bitterly in. Inuyasha slowly got into it though, and he soon started to figure out the combos and various fighting styles... his preferred style being the swordfighting mode. Inuyasha fought a few more rounds and he started to give Souta a fair challenge, but Inuyasha with increasing mastery began to trounce Souta in every round. "Ha, I kicked your ass! I knew I'd be good at this."  
  
Souta was unfazed by Inuyasha's arrogant attitude. "I knew you'd be good at it! You do fight all the time!" Inuyasha seemed to agree with this logic, and they both returned to the game. Inuyasha kept winning most of the rounds, though Souta could occasionally surprise him with his skill. Inuyasha, lacking his demon senses and because he was so thoroughly engrossed in the game, didn't notice that Kagome had been standing behind him for a couple of minutes, so she leaned down and gently tapped him on his shoulder.  
  
Inuyasha turned to see Kagome clean and dressed in her PJ's, a sight he took in for a moment or two before responding. "Hey there Kagome. I was just playing some of these 'video-games' with Souta." Kagome was a little amused that Inuyasha had taken so well to the games and gave a little smirk. She was glad Souta and Inuyasha got along so well.  
  
"Can I play Inuyasha?"  
  
"Psh... sure, if you wanna' fight me, but I've seen you fight youkai and you couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag!" Inuyasha taunted, which earned him a light whack on the back of the head.  
  
"I could beat you any day at this!"   
  
"Bring it on!"  
  
Kagome picked up Souta's controller, which he gladly relinquished, and started a new round with her picking a beautiful female character who seemed to be a knife-fighter. "Best of three rounds, you up to it Inuyasha?" Inuyasha nodded and he readied himself for the battle and the subsequent taunting of Kagome he had planned.  
  
Kagome began the round. Inuyasha switched to sword fighting mode and Kagome stayed in the normal fighting mode. Inuyasha charged and prepared his first attack. Kagome's character stayed nearly still and she frantically strung together a long combination of buttons on her controller which resulted in her character unleashing a devastating attack on Inuyasha, which nearly killed him. Before he could recover, Kagome switched to knife-fighting mode and she drove one straight into Inuyasha and he fell limp, giving Kagome the round. Inuyasha was stunned.  
  
"I told you I could beat you!" Kagome said to Inuyasha, whose mouth was still hanging open.  
  
"Ok, now it's time for some serious punishment!" Inuyasha dug his fingernails into the controller and tried to focus his mind on beating Kagome. He didn't want to get shown up by some girl!  
  
Round two began and Inuyasha actually got in a few attacks, but Kagome again trounced him. "Beatcha'!" Kagome exclaimed.  
  
"We're gonna keep playin' this until I beat you!" Inuyasha let out in a rather frustrated voice. Kagome was pleased with herself.  
  
The two sat there and fought several more rounds, almost all of which Kagome won, after which Kagome would always exclaim "Beatcha' again!" which slowly began to drive Inuyasha insane. After about an hour of intense battle--intense for Inuyasha, as Kagome had an easier time with it--Inuyasha finally gave into his immense frustration and he threw the controller down on the floor. "I've had it with this!" Inuyasha stormed off out of the living room and into the shrine courtyard.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled after him.  
  
'I shouldn't have been such a sore winner. I knew it'd make him mad, but I did it anyways. I just hope he didn't run back to the feudal era...' Kagome worried as she slipped her shoes on and ran after him.  
  
Inuyasha ran to the best place he knew to run: the Go-Shimboku, where he stood opposite the side he had been pinned 50 years previously (50 years ago to him, at least). Inuyasha kicked at the dirt and rocks at his feet. 'Damn that girl. She shouldn't have been such a bitch about beating me. Still... I probably shouldn't have run off.' Inuyasha bowed his head and closed his eyes. He just wanted to bleed off some of the frustration and anger.  
  
Inuyasha felt something soft on his shoulder. "Inuyasha..." he heard Kagome's voice, which was struck with concern and relief at having found him. Inuyasha opened his eyes and turned a little to look at her face. She wore an expression of relief and... sadness? "Inuyasha, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..." Inuyasha couldn't help but feel better. He forgot his anger.  
  
"Kagome... it's... OK. I... just..." Inuyasha trailed off and turned his gaze to the ground.  
  
"It's OK Inuyasha, I understand. I was just... worried for you that's all. I thought you'd gone back home."  
  
"Kagome" Inuyasha turned to face her as he put his hands on both her elbows. "Kagome... I wouldn't leave you without telling you. I wouldn't just..." Inuyasha stopped short of saying anything more. Kagome nodded and she turned to walk back inside. "Let's get back inside Inuyasha."  
  
===============================================================  
  
Well, that's it--for now at least (we'll see about a fic with some more plot and substance to it coming from this one...). Just some IY/Kagome fluffy stuff for this one. It's not meant to be a master work or anything. Just a fic... I just needed to write one I suppose. Still, read and review! I always love to get reviews. 


End file.
